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Square Enix recently held a press conference to detail the next iteration in the Dragon Quest series. IGN reports that the company has announced that Dragon Quest XI will be the first in the franchise to appear on a handheld system, the Nintendo DS. According to IGN, the full title will be Dragon Quest 9: Hoshizora no Mamoribito or Dragon Quest 9: Protectors of the Sky. Gamers were assured that the title would not be a side-story, and the pedigree of the development staff would seem to bear that out. Level 5, developer of Dragon Quest VIII, is developing the new game, and series creator Yuji Horii is overseeing the title. Kouichi Sugiyama will once again provide the music for the game. Overall, this is a huge announcement for the DS; the Dragon Quest series is immensely popular in Japan, and the safe platform for the game would have been the Playstation 2, like its predecessor. Announcing the next release in the series for the Nintendo DS shows just how popular the handheld has gotten in Japan.

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An upcoming Official Playstation Magazine will confirm that Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls: Oblivion will be coming to both the Playstation 3 and the PSP, as had previously been rumored. 1up has more details; apparently, a new faction will be available from the start of the new version, called the “Knights of the Nine.” The PSP version will be less of a port, apparently, and more of an interpretation of the game, as the portable version will take place in a different setting. 1up has more screenshots of the PS3 version online.

Bioware, producer of some of the biggest RPGs to hit the Xbox and the PC, have formed a handheld development group. According to the report, Dan Tudge will be heading up the new group, formerly head of Exile Interactive. A posting on Exile Interactive’s website indicates that the company is being shut down with Tudge leaving.

Talk about strange bedfellows… Who would’ve thought that one of the most tightly-lipped, hardcore RPG game producers would ever team up with a relatively open-sourced semi-indie casual game developer? Well, that’s exactly what’s happened thanks to a new agreement between Square-Enix and PopCap. Through the agreement, classic PopCap titles including Bejeweled 2, Chuzzle, Insaniquarium and Heavy Weapon will hit the Japanese shores via Square-Enix’s web portal.

Evidently, PopCap feels it needs a Japanese presence to truly penetrate the market. Although with the brisk sales of many recent DS titles, it’s evident that the Japanese have a taste for simple casual games.

The guys at the Game|Life blog over at Wired Magazine were able to get their hands on the freshly released Tingle RPG for the Nintendo DS. The game, roughly translated as Freshly-Picked Tingle’s Rose-Colored Rupee Land, features the Tingle character from the Legend of Zelda series. According to the preview, this could very well be the best RPG to feature as its main character a 35-year-old man in green fairy tights. The gameplay is unique, and there seems to be a decent amount of humor in the game, as one might expect. It is highly unlikely that the game will see a US release, which could be a shame. While the game itself might have too much Japanese use for an import gamer, a localized version might have been just quirky and unique enough to attract a cult following.